Declaration at airport to be simplified

Starting next March, travelers arriving by plane carrying less than US$400 worth of items will not have to be declared at customs.

The Korea Customs Service (KCS) made the announcement Friday and said the new scheme would be implemented at all international airports next March, when Inchon International Airport opens.

According to the amended plan, the submitting of personal items reports will no longer be applied to all travelers (foreigners included), only to travelers having items worth US$400 or more, guns, swords or other such items. The amendment was made due to complaints that the customs process took too.

Japan, China, Germany and Italy are countries where personal item reports do not have to be submitted upon arrival.

However, to combat the import of luxury items by some travelers, random inspections will be made on an occasional basis. In the event a traveler is found to be carrying items worth more than the duty-free standard of US $400 without submitting the report, a heavy penalty will be imposed.

The KCS also decided to do away with X-ray inspections of carry-on bags at the arrival area. This takes into account that baggage checks have been conducted at the airport of departure. KCS official Park Sang-Tae, forecast that the total time taken by passengers in passing immigration and customs would fall from 50 minutes to 30 minutes.

Song Jin-Hup jinhup@donga.com